BYU football notebook: Utah Country brothers Peter and David Tuitupou were front and center for SJSU Saturday

By Dick Harmon , Deseret News

Published: Saturday, Nov. 17 2012 8:00 p.m. MST

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Peter Tuitupou and his younger brother David, former Mountain View High and Snow College football players, were front and center on the game-program cover for San Jose State's home contest vs. BYU Saturday night.

The brothers played against the Cougars for the SJSU Spartans. Peter, a tight end, leads the Spartans in yards per catch, and David plays defensive end. Their parents, Paul and Carolyn, were in the stands — their sixth travel trip to see their sons play.

“I always cheer for the Cougars, but this time I’ve got to go with with San Jose State,” said Carolyn before kickoff. She is an assistant dean of undergraduate education at BYU with an office in the Maeser Building on campus.

Peter began his career at Utah for a semester. He transferred to Snow College over a disagreement about a position switch and then signed with Washington State but decided to accept a mission call to Panama. When he returned, he accepted a scholarship offer with the Spartans.

David walked on at BYU but never played. He played at Snow College before signing at SJSU. Being sons of a university assistant dean, academics are at the top of the list for the duo — aside from possibly football — and Peter has earned WAC All-Academic honors.

COUGAR NOTES: BYU president CecilSamuelson told a crowd of tailgaters comprised of Cougar fans and alumni outside Spartan Stadium that the event was one of the largest he’d seen as the school’s president. “And I’ve been to a few of them,” he said. BYU reported that 5,000 Cougar fans bought tickets to the tailgate and 10,000 BYU fans were expected inside Spartan Stadium.

UVU PRESENT: With more than 4,000 alumni in the bay area, Utah Valley University staged a tailgate party for 200 people before the BYU-SJSU game. President MatthewHolland attended the festivities and welcome attendees, whom UVU acknowledged have many ties to BYU as well as the Wolverines.

DICK FELT DIES: Former BYU and NFL player and Cougar defensive coach DickFelt passed away Saturday morning. According to former head coach LaVellEdwards, Felt, who was in his late 70s, was expected at a granddaughter’s wedding Saturday and when he didn’t attend and calls to his house went unanswered, neighbors entered his house and found him dead in his shower.

“He was a great player, a great coach and a great person,” said Edwards. “He had suffered a stroke recently and the last time I saw him was at Riverside Country Club. He couldn’t golf because of the stroke but rode in a cart and did some putting and chipping.”

Edwards was uncertain of cause of death and learned of Felt's passing through his brother.

Dick Harmon, Deseret News sports columnist, can be found on Twitter as Harmonwrites and can be contacted at dharmon@desnews.com.